Twice Free
by Umbreon of Shadows
Summary: Two souls who have faced hell will meet, one imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, and another cursed with a body that doesn't match her soul. (Trans-Harry)


Disclaimer: I own nothing. All Characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

If you were to go into Private Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey, you would see a small little house with a garden in the front. Number 4 Private Drive looked identical to the other houses in the neighbourhood, it had the same boxy appearance, the same boring gray color, the same boring white fence. It was in no way special from the others, even the inside of the house was decorated in a boring way, nothing that could be considered strange, or unusual, or even unique was anywhere to be found within its walls. On the walls and the Mantle were pictures of a happy family, a Father, a Mother and their son...perfectly normal in every way...at least on the surface, because the Dursley's had a secret. A secret so horrible that it would ruin their "prefect reputation" and make the neighbours talk for months, if not years. That secret...was that there were not three people who lived in their house, but four.

Within Number Four Private Drive, hidden away from the rest of the world, was a child, a child that had never been shown a single kindness within those walls. At ten years of age, the child was tiny, much MUCH smaller than her peers, who stood head and shoulders above her. Had any decent person seen this child, they would have immediately taken them to a hospital, for the child showed clear signs of malnutrition and abuse. Her Skeletal body was covered in cuts and bruises that were barely hidden under her much-too-large clothes. Unfortunately for the child...the residents of Number Four were not decent in any way. Day after day, they made the poor girl cook and clean for them, only to throw her back into the cupboard under the stairs where she slept, only giving her scraps for food. Should they find anything, ANYTHING, out of place she would be beaten black and blue...even worse than the physical treatment however, wa they way they acted around her. Not one single time in the almost ten years she had lived at Number Four Private Drive had any of the Dursley's ever looked at her. In fact, unless she did something wrong, they wouldn't even acknowledge her existence. It was as if she were nothing more than a tool for them to use. Her Aunt and Uncle had never even taught the young child how to speak. Ever since she had been left on her Aunt and Uncle's doorstep nine years ago she had lived in this hell. Without a doubt, there was no hope for Harry Potter.

_Page Break_

Nine years, three months, twenty days, ten hours, forty two minutes, and three seconds. That was how long Sirius Black had been in this hellhole, although the only reason he remembered that was because it had been Nine years, three months, twenty four days, 5 hours, ten minutes, and fifty three seconds since...since Lily and James had been killed. If anyone knew he counted the days, they would wonder how he kept them straight without writing them down, not that he could have in Azkaban. Nine years ago Peter had betrayed Lily and James, he had betrayed all of them, and Sirius had taken the blame. Thirteen Muggles had died in the explosion Peter had caused when cornered, but at least the bastard had died in it. All that was left of the short plump man had been a finger, nothing else. "How couldn't we have seen it?" Sirius mumbled to himself. "Wormtail, he was a rat, a damn rat and no-one thought it was him." Sirius leaned his head against the wall of his cell, ignoring the sound of Bella screaming and shaking the bars. "Why...why didn't I just become the Secret Keeper? If I hadn't told them to switch to Peter...they'd be alive and with Harry...I wonder how he's doing?" He mused to himself. Everyday, Sirius thought about his godson. He thought about who the boy took after, would he look like James, but act like Lily? Or would it be the other way around, would the boy look like Lily with back hair and act like James but with Lily's famous temper?

A sudden cold seeped into the area around Sirius and seemed to get stronger and colder by the second, the dementors were back. Sirius shivered and gripped his head, covering his ears as the other prisoners started screaming and crying.

_"Why Sirius? Why did you kill us?"_ James' voice played in his mind, as it had every time the Dementors were close, sometimes it was just James and sometimes it was Lily too.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you killed, I'm sorry." Sirius mumbled to himself, hugging his legs tightly against himself. "It wasn't me, Peter betrayed you, it was Peter."

**_"_**_YOU convinced us to switch with Peter, YOU got those muggles killed, YOU chased after him_**_ INSTEAD OF TAKING CARE OF HARRY_**!" Lily's voice joined in.

Sirius shuddered and transformed into Padfoot, his animagus form always helped against the effects of the dementors. He was lucky that he learned it back in his fifth year in order to support Moony. During his stay in Azkaban he had learned several things about his animagus form that he hadn't before. For one, he'd learned that his grim didn't feel emotions the same way as Sirius did, things like depression and guilt were...muted somehow. He often wondered if Moony felt emotions differently than Remus, seeing as how wolves were rather similar to dogs in some ways. He knew James had been more protective as Prongs and that Peter had been more skittish as...worm...tail. Padfoot froze, his thoughts racing, for the first time since coming to this hellhole his mind didn't feel foggy or run down. There had been one occasion, in their sixth year, where Peter had come across one of the Ravenclaw's cats and had gotten scratched up rather bad. In order to escape, Wormtail had bitten the cat's paw and ran off around the corner where he had smelled some students. Once around the corner, Wormtail had acted as if he was seriously injured, and fell on his side, just as the cat came around the corner. The students had kept the cat away from Peter and once they were far enough away, Peter had jumped out of their hands and ran to the Common Room. He had faked a serious injury to get away from a cat...could he have faked his death to get away from Sirius? He shook his head, Azkaban must be getting to him, he was becoming as paranoid as Mad-Eye.

Still...if Peter was alive, then Harry was in danger! Padfoot let out a vicious snarl at the mere thought of his godson being threatened. Quickly, his eyes darted to the  
bars of his cell, even with all of the weight he had lost it was unlikely he'd be able to squeeze through them, even as Padfoot. So then how was he going to escape, how...HOW?! The door to his cell was never opened except...except for when the dementors gave him his meal for the week. Could he escape then? Even transformed the dementors still affected him, but maybe...just maybe...

For the first time in years, Sirius had something that no-other prisoner of Azkaban in history had. He had hope.


End file.
